March 13, 2020

Author's notes: see bottom

—

They waited out the blizzard, like idiots. Digging their exit with fingerless-gloved hands, Katniss grumbled and complained almost silently, but he heard her. Their fingers were turning blue. It has been hours by now and he is so cold.

They're going to have to leave to their game here, under a pile of snow. It'll freeze fine, but there are predators scrounging around. Nervousness fills him, and he wonders how they're going to ever bring a meal home if this snow doesn't melt. He tries not to worry about it.

When they do make it out, Gale's ruddy fingers brush the snow off them casually. Her chattering teeth almost make him laugh. Even freezing, she's adorable.

Luckily, the dark branches of trees protect them from the chilling wind, but the next obstacle glares the sun off its surface, and he, once again, bites back a chuckle. Snow higher than her thighs makes her glare angrily. He can see her shoulders tense when he tries to stifle his laughter.

He's a lucky bastard, and he knows it. The banks of snow barely break three quarters of his legs. She puffs her cheeks and takes her first step, stumbling. While he watches her fall, he notes the snow is somehow deeper than it looks.

This time, he really does laugh. "How you gonna manage, Catnip?" She glares, but tries to move forward, nearly toppling again. The icicles in her hair shimmer as they fall with her. He notices, because he always notices.

(Sometimes, he wishes he didn't, but it's not exactly under his control. It's under hers.)

He leans over to her tiny frame, prepared taunts rest on his tongue. She beats him to it. "Come here." He raises a brow as he crushes through the snow over to her. When he's in front of her, she pushes his one shoulder. "Turn around."

"Bossy today." Her eyebrows scrunch, but he turns. He's always had a hard time saying no to her. His confusion is clear and he can hear her shuffling. "Huh!" A sudden force on his back makes him take a few stutter steps forward.

Arms wrap around his neck, pulling her weight up, while he struggles to grip the thighs at his hips. When he finally catches her and his balance, he stands straight. "Are you serious, right now?" He tries to look at her but she pushes his cheek away, like a child. His eyes widen, and his shoulders tense.

He can feel her braid tickle his elbow as she stuffs her face into his neck. Her breath on his ear is foggy and it makes him swallow. Thumbing the outside of her knee, he hikes her up so she can rest comfortably on his hips. "You can walk now." She murmurs.

"Oh, can I?" His feet have melted the snow and now water squishes in his soles. It feels like three of his toes have frozen off, but he still smiles. He takes a few steps in the direction he thinks the fence is, hoping it's not buzzing with electricity.

Very quickly, he realizes, as skeleton trees watch them, that this is very exhausting. Dragging his feet through knee high snow, with someone on your back is taxing. His back aches, and his knees throb. The only problem is, he doesn't want to put her down. She's so close to him, and it seems she comfortable being this close.

Her front is to his back, and he hopes their layers of clothing is enough to snuff out the throb of his heart. "Are you alright, Gale? I can get down." He feels her push off his shoulder blades slightly.

"No! No, I'm fine." His grasp tightens lightly on her legs. He can feel her eyes. "Really, I am. We have to get home before the peacekeepers come looking." A good excuse. It's not too much farther, he tells himself.

He squeezes her thigh as she snuggles into his shoulder ignorantly. Gosh, doesn't she know what she does to him? Her nose tickles the lobe of his ear, challenging him to ignore the pressure she builds in him. It aches on his lips as he tries, for the thousandth time, to ignore the tingling in his stomach.

Her breathing is steady, unaware of his turmoil.

(Sometimes, he wishes he could just crush this feeling. Bury it, deep. These banks look high enough.

Sometimes, he thinks he is over it, over her, but then, she just looks at him, and he's slipping, falling right back to where he started.)

This time though, this time, his fall comes because he feels an accidental brush of her lips on the back of his neck. Bumps ripple over his skin, eyes widening, and he tries to slow his breath before he can stumble. A silence follows them for a while.

"You know, you're lucky your shot is so good. It makes up for how small you are." He mumbles, hiking her up again, causing her arms tighten. He says it to pester her, because it's funny. Without hesitation, she smacks him in the back of the head, causing little bits of snow fall from his hair. Cackling at her puffed cheeks, an idea strikes.

Stepping into the deepest batch of white he can find, he drops her, suddenly, dramatically. She falls with a poof as snow explodes around the hole she left behind.

She yells, rising from the crater of snow. Profanities that should never leave her escape while she claws snow at him, and he can feel the trickles of ice melting down his collar bone.

He can feel his laughter bubbling, but she doesn't give him enough time to crack up like he wants to. She attacks him again, pushing snow up his nose. Gale grabs her under the knees and under the armpits. Then, he holds her above his shoulders, so that she can't reach anymore ammunition, with her stomach to his nose. Hers hands crawl for the snow but he won't let her, even if he's struggling to breathe.

After coughing out the snow, he wipes his soaked and scraped face on the stomach of her shirt, darkening it. Katniss laughs and tries to push him away. When he pulls back, their eyes meet and hers shine. She never really smiles so when she does, it's something to marvel.

He drops her to his stomach, catches her there. Her thighs are on his hips, and her elbows are on his shoulders, but now, they're nose to nose. Suddenly, the chill in his shirt is gone. Their breath is harsh and shared, almost empty from their strain. She whispers heavily, trying to fill her lungs. "Hey, Gale?" Eye contact is a skill in situations like this, one that Katniss doesn't have.

"Yeah?" His breath is anchored too. He blinks slowly as he holds her close. Walls of snow protect them.

"You're lucky you're so big," She pauses, heaving. His eyes widen a fraction, and with no time to waste he smirks at her. Her brows shoot up as red rushes to her face, and it can't be blamed on windburn.

She slams him in the face with snow she can now reach, making him fall into the bank. She spills out on top of him and they're back to where they started, covered and chilled by the snow. With how red his face is, he wishes he could hide there.

"You're lucky you're so big, because your shot is garbage." Her eyebrows squeeze from half a foot above his. He holds his breath, aware of every place she's touching him. "That's what I was going to say." His face is frozen as he laughs from the snow, trying to shake whatever he's feeling. Sitting up, he brushes silvery white from her hair, and once again, he's staring. The hair he tucks behind her ear stubbornly falls out of place.

(It's like her, you can never marginalize her, force her into fitting. She'll fit where she wants to, and so will the hair.)

(She chooses to fit with him.)

"Come on, Catnip, lets go home." She stands quietly, and pulls him up by the wrists the best she can. She has to lean back on her heels and put all her strength into it, but she manages. Swiping snow off his clothes, he turns back around. He points at his back, staring into the horizon. Katniss jumps up and his shoulders catch her, the little moment is forgotten.

(Or almost. He never forgets them, packing them away, into the crevices of his heart.)

As he trudges the way home, with her comforting weight on his shoulders, she tickles his jaw with her thumb, exhaling wisps of confessions in his ear. Unsaid words rest in the fog of her breath, and he can almost hear them crystallize.

—

This is very similar to my last one. After all, they were the same concept, but they just went two different directions and I let it, so here we are.Thanks to empressakura655 for reviewing.

I struggle a lot with pacing, because I go to in-depth for some part and not enough for others, and it used to hold me back from writing. I just don't care anymore, but I'm always trying to fix. Leave your thoughts if you'd like.

Have a great day!